Megyn Kelly Close To Finalizing Exit From NBC

The New York Post reports that Megyn Kelly is close to finalizing a $30 million exit from NBC and is said to be planning a return to television. She was fired from her 9 AM slot on Today back in October after questioning why it was racist to wear blackface on Halloween. When she joined NBC after leaving Fox News in 2017, she signed a contract for $69 million. Nothing is expected to happen until next week at the earliest.

A source said: “It’s taking slightly longer than expected, the paperwork is going back and forth.”

Another source added: “Everyone wants this to be over — both Megyn and NBC — and Comcast has the money to pay off Megyn. We thought this would be a done deal a few weeks ago.”

A third source said: “NBC decided rather than fight and face a lawsuit from her, they — and more importantly, Comcast with all its money — decided to draw a line under the entire debacle and pay Megyn the full amount owed in her contract to go away. But this is far from the end of her TV career — in the Trump era, there are few broadcasters like her. Megyn would likely take a short break from TV and return to cable news ahead of the 2020 election.”

After Kelly made her controversial comments, she was called out by her NBC colleagues, including Al Roker. He said at the time: “The fact is, while she apologized to the staff, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country. This is a history going back to the 1830s — minstrel shows to demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right. I’m old enough to know, have lived through ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy,’ where you had white people in blackface playing two black characters, just magnifying the worst stereotypes about black people — and that’s what the problem is. That’s what the issue is.“